Syed Amiruzzaman
Blood donation for language is rare in the history of the world. Language movement is a mass movement organized to demand the state status of Bengali language. In 1947, British rule ended in the subcontinent and two independent states, India and Pakistan, were born. Immediately after independence, the question arose about what would be the state language of Pakistan.
The central leaders of Pakistan and Urdu-speaking intellectuals said that Urdu would be the state language of Pakistan. On the other hand, there was a demand from East Pakistan that Bengali should also be made one of the state languages. But the central government of Pakistan completely ignored this demand of Bengali language. This angered the students and intellectuals of Dhaka and they prepared a final demand regarding the language; the demand was: Bengali would be the medium of education and government work in East Pakistan and the state languages of Pakistan at the central government level would be Bengali and Urdu.
Keeping this language-related demand in mind, the Tamaddun Majlis was the first to organize a movement. It was led by Professor Abul Kashem. Gradually, many non-communal and progressive organizations joined this movement and eventually it took the form of a mass movement.
Students' meeting at Amtala, Dhaka University (1952)
On the other hand, in West Pakistan, efforts were made to make Urdu the sole state language of Pakistan at the initiative of Education Minister Fazlur Rahman in various forums of the central government. This angered the student community of East Pakistan. They organized a student meeting on the premises of Dhaka University on December 6, 1947, demanding that Bengali be made one of the state languages. Even after the meeting, processions and protests continued. At the end of this month, the Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad was formed, convened by Professor Nurul Haque Bhuiyan of Tamaddun Majlis. In the session of the Pakistan Constituent Assembly held in Karachi on February 23 of the following year, it was proposed that the members of the council should deliver speeches in Urdu or English. Dhirendranath Dutta, a member of the East Pakistan Congress Party, brought an amendment to this proposal and demanded that Bengali be made one of the languages of the council. He said that out of the 69 million people of Pakistan, 44 million were from East Pakistan, whose mother tongue was Bengali. But this demand was rejected when the central leaders including Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan and the Chief Minister of East Bengal, Khwaja Nazimuddin, opposed this demand. When this news reached Dhaka, the student community, intellectuals and politicians were outraged. Newspapers like Azad also criticized those who opposed Dhirendranath Dutt's proposal. Later, a new State Language Council was formed to lead the movement to make Bengali the state language, convened by Shamsul Alam.
March 11, 1948 is a memorable day in the history of the language movement. In addition to the exclusion of Bengali from the list of languages of the Constituent Assembly, a general strike was observed in Dhaka city on that day to protest against the exclusion of Bengali from Pakistan's currency and postage stamps, and the exclusion of Bengali from the navy recruitment examination and the inclusion of Urdu. The religious groups demanded that Bengali be declared one of the state languages of Pakistan and the official language of East Pakistan. While marching in support of the strike with the slogan 'We want Bengali as the state language', Shawkat Ali, Kazi Ghulam Mahbub, Shamsul Haque, Oli Ahad, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Abdul Wahed and others were arrested. Student leaders such as Abdul Matin, Abdul Malek Ukil and others also participated in the march; a large meeting was held on the university premises. Mohammad Towaha was seriously injured by the police when he tried to snatch a rifle from a policeman and was admitted to the hospital. Later, the strike was observed from March 12-15.
The government's attitude softened somewhat in the face of the movement. Chief Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin signed an agreement with the student leaders. However, although he agreed to many conditions in the agreement, none of them were accepted in his demand for making Bengali the state language.
On 19 March 1948, the Governor General of Pakistan, Mohammad Ali Jinnah, visited East Pakistan. He addressed two meetings in Dhaka and in both places he declared Urdu as the only state language of Pakistan, ignoring the demand for Bengali. At that time, the language movement had spread throughout East Pakistan. Jinnah's speech was met with strong protests. On 11 March 1950, the Rashtrabhasha Sangram Parishad was formed at Dhaka University; its convener was Abdul Matin.
The language movement began to take an important turn from the beginning of 1952. By this time, both Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan had passed away. Khwaja Nazimuddin became the Prime Minister of Pakistan in place of Liaquat Ali Khan. As the political crisis intensified, the economic situation in East Pakistan also deteriorated. The people of East Pakistan began to lose faith in the Muslim League. In 1949, a new political party, the Awami League, was formed under the leadership of Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani. The feeling of deprivation and exploitation in East Pakistan gradually increased, and the people here gradually began to believe that a new type of colonialism had been imposed on them in place of British imperialism. In this context, the language movement gained a new dimension in 1952.
A street in Dhaka University during the February 22 Language Movement
On 27 January 1952, Khwaja Nazimuddin came to Dhaka from Karachi. He said in a public meeting at Paltan Maidan that the people of the province would decide which language would be used in the official work of the province. But the state language of Pakistan would be Urdu only. This immediately caused a strong reaction and students started protesting with the slogan 'We want the national language Bangla'. On 30 January, a strike was observed at Dhaka University. On 31 January, a meeting of representatives of various political and cultural parties held under the chairmanship of Awami League President Maulana Bhashani formed the 'All-Party Central State Language Movement Council', whose convener was Kazi Ghulam Mahbub. At that time, the government proposed to write Bengali in Arabic script. This was also strongly protested against. The State Language Movement Council decided to organize hartals, public meetings and protest processions in the entire East Pakistan on 21 February (Ekushey February).
While these programs were being organized, the government imposed Section 144 in Dhaka city and banned gatherings and processions. On the evening of February 20, a meeting of the Central State Language Movement Council was held under the chairmanship of Abul Hashim (1905-74). There was disagreement in the meeting on whether Section 144 should be violated or not, but the students remained steadfast in their determination to break Section 144.
The next day at 11 am, a student meeting was held at Amtala of Dhaka University, located in a part of Dhaka Medical College. When the meeting began, the Vice-Chancellor, along with some of the university's teachers, requested the students not to violate Section 144. However, the student leaders, especially Abdul Matin and Gaziul Haque, remained steadfast in their position. Thousands of students from schools and colleges in Dhaka city gathered at the university. When the students came out on the streets in small groups of five to seven, chanting the slogan 'We want Bangla as the national language', the police lathi-charged them, and the female students were not spared from this attack. When the students started throwing bricks and stones at the police, the police used tear gas. Unable to control the agitated students, the police opened fire on the procession moving towards the Constituent Assembly building. Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abdul Jabbar, Abul Barkat (MA students in Political Science) were killed in the firing. Many injured were admitted to the hospital and among them, Secretariat Peon Abdus Salam died. An eight/nine year old boy named Ahiullah was also killed that day.
At that time, preparations were underway for the session of the Constituent Assembly. Upon hearing the news of the police firing, Constituent Assembly member Maulana Tarkabagish and several others, including members of the opposition party, left the meeting room and stood by the protesting students. At the session, East Pakistan Chief Minister Nurul Amin continued to oppose the demand for the Bengali language.
The next day, February 22, was a day of mass protests and police repression. The crowd offered funeral prayers in absentia for the victims and took out a mourning procession. The police and military again fired batons, bullets and bayonets at the procession. Shafiur Rahman and several others were martyred and many were arrested while injured. A memorial was built on February 23 at the place where the students were shot. In 1963, a concrete structure was built on the site of this temporary structure.
The Constituent Assembly passed a bill recognizing Bengali as one of the official languages of Pakistan. The language movement continued until 1956. The movement achieved its goal by approving Bengali as the official language of Pakistan along with Urdu in the National Assembly of Pakistan. At one stage of the debate on the issue in the National Assembly (16 February 1956), according to an amendment proposal moved by its member Adiluddin Ahmed (1913-1981) of Faridpur, both Bengali and Urdu were recognized as official languages of Pakistan.
Since 1952, February 21 has been celebrated to commemorate the sacrifices made by Bengalis for their mother tongue. On November 17, 1999, UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day. Through this decision, the international community placed the language movement of Bangladesh in a position of dignity.
Syed Amiruzzaman
Liberation War researcher, journalist and columnist;
Special Correspondent, Weekly News;
Editor, RP News;
Member of the Central Committee, National Farmers' Association;
Member of the Editorial Board, Workers' Party of Bangladesh, Moulvibazar District;
Organizer of the great mass uprising of '90 and former central committee member, Bangladesh Chhatra Maitri.
Former Central Committee Member, Bangladesh Agricultural Workers Union.
General Secretary, National Committee for Compensation for Magurchara Gas Resources and Environmental Destruction.
Former President, Bangladesh Law Students Federation.
Email : syedzaman.62@gmail.com
WhatsApp : 01716599589
Mobile: 01716599589
Bikash number: +8801716599589 (personal)
References:
1. Abul Mansur Ahmed, Fifty Years of Politics as I See It, Dhaka, 1975;
2. Abdul Haque, The Early Years of the Language Movement, Dhaka, 1976;
3. Badruddin Umar, East Bengal Language Movement and Politics of the Time, Volume 1, Dhaka, 1979.
4. Bashir Al Helal
5. Syed Amiruzzaman
6. Declaration, Bangladesh Student Alliance
7. Declaration, Democratic Student Union
8. Declaration, Bangla Students Union
9. Declaration, Revolutionary Students Union
10. Declaration, East Pakistan Students Union (EPSU)
11. Declaration, Workers' Party of Bangladesh
